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Budden & Son: Plat of the City of Tallapoosa, Haralson Co., Georgia. Showing City Lots and Property Owned By Georgia--Alabama Investment and Development Company . . .Surveyed by F. Reiman and R.M. Williams
Title: Plat of the City of Tallapoosa, Haralson Co., Georgia. Showing City Lots and Property Owned By Georgia--Alabama Investment and Development Company . . .Surveyed by F. Reiman and R.M. Williams Map Maker: Budden & Son
Description: Rare promotional broadside map for land for sale in Tallapoosa, Georgia, utilized by the notorious promoters of the Georgia-Alabama Investment and Land Company as part of a massive investment fraud perpetrated on northerners. The map is also noteworthy as a very early Atlanta map imprint, the earliest we have ever offered. Tallapoosa began as a gold mining town during America's first Gold Rush in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. Although other names were used to refer to it in its early years (Pine Grove, Pineville, and Possum Snout), a Tallapoosa post office was established in 1839. Tallapoosa got its name from the nearby river of that name. (Tallapoosa is an Indian word of uncertain meaning.) Incorporated in 1860, less than a quarter of a century later it entered an extraordinary boom period during which it became known to investors and tourists throughout the North and Canada as a "Yankee City Under a Southern Sun." The primary promoter was Ralph L. Spencer. During its boom period, Tallapoosa was promoted heavily in New England, and many new industries, including Wine making, Glassworks, Iron Casting, Broom Manufacturing, Sash & Door Blind manufacturing, Furniture, Cabinetry, Knitting, Emery Wheels, Fruit Canning, and Dynamite manufacturing. Perhaps most notable was the establishment of a planned community for the purpose of wine making. Ralph Spencer invited some of Pennsylvania's Hungarian immigrants to leave their mining jobs and relocate to 2,000 acres near Tallapoosa, where they could produce wine. Led by their priest, Father Francis Janishek, 200 families accepted Spencer's invitation. They planted vineyards and established wineries in the community they named "Budapest." Their success with viticulture attracted other groups from around the country, many of whom established their own vineyards and wineries. Most notable among these were about 200 families of Slovakian origin who established a community called Nitra three miles north of Tallapoosa. Just as the vintners began to flourish, Georgia passed the Prohibition Act of 1907, effectively ruining the industry. The promotion of Tallapoosa turned out to be a massive land fraud, with the primary perpetrators, including Spencer, Benjamin Butler and R.A. Osgood and and George Stuart. The Georgia-Alabama Land and Invesment Company turned out to be a massive fraud, with over 15,000 investors losing their capital. Among other things, the promoters used a birdseye view of Brockton, Massachusetts in promoting the town, changing the name to Tallapoosa to show the prospects of their booming metropolis. By late 1891, the scheme had collapsed and C.A. Norton was appointed receiver to unwind the affairs of the company.
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